2. Academic Validation
  3. High-potency ligands for DREADD imaging and activation in rodents and monkeys

High-potency ligands for DREADD imaging and activation in rodents and monkeys

  • Nat Commun. 2019 Oct 11;10(1):4627. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12236-z.
Jordi Bonaventura 1,  Mark A G Eldridge 2,  Feng Hu 3,  Juan L Gomez 1,  Marta Sanchez-Soto 4,  Ara M Abramyan 5,  Sherry Lam 1,  Matthew A Boehm 1,  Christina Ruiz 6,  Mitchell R Farrell 6,  Andrea Moreno 7,  Islam Mustafa Galal Faress 7,  Niels Andersen 7,  John Y Lin 8,  Ruin Moaddel 9,  Patrick J Morris 10,  Lei Shi 5,  David R Sibley 4,  Stephen V Mahler 6,  Sadegh Nabavi 7,  Martin G Pomper 3,  Antonello Bonci 11,  Andrew G Horti 12,  Barry J Richmond 13,  Michael Michaelides 14 15
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Biobehavioral Imaging and Molecular Neuropsychopharmacology Unit, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
  • 2 Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
  • 3 Department of Radiology Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
  • 4 Molecular Neuropharmacology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA.
  • 5 Computational Chemistry and Molecular Biophysics Unit, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
  • 6 Department of Neurobiology & Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
  • 7 Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Dandrite, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Aarhus, Denmark.
  • 8 School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, TAS, 7000, Australia.
  • 9 Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
  • 10 National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA.
  • 11 Synaptic Plasticity Section, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
  • 12 Department of Radiology Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. [email protected].
  • 13 Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA. [email protected].
  • 14 Biobehavioral Imaging and Molecular Neuropsychopharmacology Unit, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA. [email protected].
  • 15 Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. [email protected].
PMID: 31604917 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12236-z
Abstract

Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) are a popular chemogenetic technology for manipulation of neuronal activity in uninstrumented awake Animals with potential for human applications as well. The prototypical DREADD agonist clozapine N-oxide (CNO) lacks brain entry and converts to clozapine, making it difficult to apply in basic and translational applications. Here we report the development of two novel DREADD agonists, JHU37152 and JHU37160, and the first dedicated 18F positron emission tomography (PET) DREADD radiotracer, [18F]JHU37107. We show that JHU37152 and JHU37160 exhibit high in vivo DREADD potency. [18F]JHU37107 combined with PET allows for DREADD detection in locally-targeted neurons, and at their long-range projections, enabling noninvasive and longitudinal neuronal projection mapping.

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